The Nation (Nairobi)
Joseph Ngunjiri
18 March 2007
Nairobi — Over the past few days, the internet has been the venue of a quiet local war, which is slowly assuming a global dimension. At the centre of the controversy is the proposed rehabilitation of Nairobi's Jeevanjee Gardens, a collaborative effort of the city council and the UN Habitat's Safer Cities Programme.
Through e-mails, members of Bunge la Mwananchi (the people's parliament), a group of Kenyans that has been meeting at the public park for the past 15 years, have been giving officials of the two organisations anxious moments.
The mails have been addressed to Bunge's international contacts, who are also activists, urging them to apply pressure on both the Government and Habitat to stop to the project.
Bunge members read mischief in the whole affair. They see it as part of a wider plot to kick them out of the park. "We were opposed to the whole project from the word go," says Ms Wangui Mbatia, a member. "And for them to succeed in their plans, they want to kick us out of this place." She and her colleagues have vowed to oppose to any changes to the park.
Dismiss them as idlers
On a normal day, Bunge members spend most of their time under a shade deliberating on various issues that affect the common man (or woman). It would be easy to dismiss them as idlers and people of no consequence. But you would do so at your own peril as officials of Habitat, the city council and, by extension, the Government are finding out.
Long used to being ignored, the Bunge members are using the only means at their disposal to make themselves heard. Activism. Since March 11 they have been putting in place a well coordinated mechanism, and they are getting the desired results.
Activating contacts they developed at the just concluded World Social Forum, e-mails are flowing copiously from various parts of the world. And Habitat and the council are finding themselves on the receiving end, having to clarify some matters, issue denials and defend their actions.
"So casually is the UN Habitat taking the process in which they have engaged first and second-year university students to design the changes," reads part of one such e-mail. "The results are disastrous... imagine putting two roads, a bus park, a shopping centre and a market in one block of land... and still leaving an area for the public to relax?!"
Concrete bus park
But Ms Laura Petrella of the Un agency says in her mail: "We have been informed that an e-mail message is circulating purporting UN Habitat linkage to a proposal to convert Jeevanjee Gardens into a concrete public bus park where members of the public will no longer be able to enjoy the green grass and the serenity of the park... UN Habitat would like to point out that it is in no way connected to or aware of any such plans."
She adds that, on the contrary, the agency, in collaboration with the city council, is implementing a "participatory approach involving key stakeholders, including the people who use the park, the business community around the park, and university students, in designing the park into a green, open, interactive space that encourages pedestrian circulation with improved lighting and creates space for theatre/performing arts to enhance safety and social interaction in public space."
Ms Leah Oyake, the head of city's directorate of the environment under which the park falls, also dismisses the allegation that they intend to build a bus park at Jeevanjee as ridiculous. "I am not aware of such a plan," she says. "The proposed improvement is aimed at beautifying the park and making it an environmentally safe place; there is no way a bus park can be built there."
Mr Elijah Agevi, the Safer Nairobi Initiative adviser, says there has been a major misunderstanding in the whole affair. "All this information about building a bus park at Jeevanjee Gardens is not true," he says. "Why would we want to reintroduce a bus park in the CBD (central business distrct) when the emphasis is decongesting the city by removing bus parks?"
Ms Asenath Masese, a senior official at the council's planning department, says work on the proposed improvement of the park cannot begin as the plans are yet to be adopted by the council. "Even when the plans are adopted, the implementation can be done only with the availability of funds," she adds.
But Ms Zarina Patel of the Friends of Jeevanjee Gardens lobby and a granddaughter of the man the park is named after, says on the internet: "I personally visited Jeevanjee Gardens on March 15, 2007. I have concluded that none of the alarmist claims of "major developments" happening in the gardens were in fact true or in the process of being implemented.
"We welcome and encourage the interest shown by the UN Habitat in its cooperation with the NCC under its banner of Safer Cities and trust all stakeholders to further improve Jeevanjee Gardens for the benefit of all Nairobians."
She also got some members of Bunge to write an e-mail dissociating themselves from earlier e-mails. And here, Bunge members appear to contradict themselves. It reads in part: "? the said contents are untrue and do not represent the views of Bunge la Mwananchi. The e-mail was sent without consultation among Bunge members. We regret any embarrassment caused by the same."
Jeevanjee Gardens was donated for recreation in 1904 by Alibhai Mulla Jeevanjee and was officially gazetted on March 22, 1906. But in 1991, it was threatened by a proposal by the city commission of the time to build a three-storey car park and a shopping mall. Ms Patel, with the help of Prof Wangari Maathai of the Green Belt movement and other Kenyans, fought hard to save the park.
"We found that we had the support of the local media, especially the Nation Media Group, residents of Nairobi and Mombasa, other environmentalists and all those who lived and worked around the gardens," she writes in her book, Challenge to Colonialism: The Struggle of Alibhai Mulla Jeevanjee for Equal Rights in Kenya.
A Sunday Nation investigation has revealed a case of communication breakdown. We have copies of the proposed plans, and there is no provision for a bus park.
When we visited Bunge at its base the members told us that they were only invited to a stakeholders meeting at Comfort Hotel in December 2005.
"During the meeting, we expressed our misgivings with the proposals," says Mr Hassan Indiasi. "From there we were not consulted again, apart from the time we were called to a meeting at Gigiri which appeared more of a public relations exercise."
Why then are Bunge members so opposed to the improvement of the park? They claim that as interested parties and watchdogs of the people they have been left out of the process of coming up with an improvement plan.
"We are not opposed to having the park improved," clarifies Mr Wambugu Mwai, a member. "What we are saying is that as long as the people's views are not incorporated, we shall not allow it to go on."
Officially adopted
While admitting that there has not been another consultative meeting, Mr Agevi says further adjustments have since been done on the original designs. The plans had been put on hold following the transfer of senior officials a the council's planning department.
"This explains why the plans are yet to be officially adopted by the council," he explains, adding that even after the adoption, they will subject them to further consultations.
But he wonders why it is only Bunge members who have an issue with the proposal. "Other people in the consultative meeting expressed positive sentiments. You would want to ask yourself why it is only Bunge members who are opposed to the project," he says.
He, however, promises to have a session with them to update them on the progress and seek to iron out areas of misunderstanding.
The whole issue came to the fore when city council askaris descended on the park on March 10 and rounded up about 50 Bunge members. The guards claim that the arrest is part of a wider plot to get them out of Jeevanjee Gardens.
In the absence of clear communication channels between the two groups, Bunge members are apprehensive and view any move with suspicion. Currently, there are some activities going on at the park and along Moktar Daddah Street, and Bunge members are convinced that these are indeed the proposed changes being sneaked in.
The proposed changes are contained in an article titled, Towards Jeevanjee Place, 100 Years On, in the inaugural issue of the Nairobi Salama Newsletter of February 2006. The newsletter is published by the Safer Nairobi Initiative secretariat.
Among other things, it is proposed that the park's perimeter wall be lowered to improve visibility for people inside or outside. This will also help to light up the place.
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